Tag: Trump
“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist.
Now this conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence—economic, political, even spiritual—is felt in every city, every Statehouse, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet, we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources, and livelihood are all involved. So is the very structure of our society.”
General Dwight D Eisenhower
Farewell address 1961All the war party needs is a steady supply of foreign villains (preferably Muslims) who can be occasionally bombed back to the early Islamic age. Americans have largely forgotten George W. Bush’s lurid claims that Iraqi drones of death were poised to shower poisons on the sleeping nation. Even the Soviets never ventured so deep into the sea of absurdity.
The more I listen to his words, the more I like Ike.
Trump’s foreign policy, from his inaugural address, is “America First”: an aggressive assertion of national self-interest, of nativism and protectionism, of America’s retreat from the commitments and alliances built after World War II, of unilateralism to advance America’s (and Trump’s) priorities above all others. And with respect to the Middle East, to end the “endless wars” that have consumed American troops and treasure for 18 years and counting.
Australia, a juniour partner in the Coalition of the Killing, wants senior status it seems. While Trump has declared he’s putting the fight against ISIS on hold in order to deal with IRAN Theresa Payne wants to take over that war on Daesh. Remember when Trump declared that war was won. He relocated troops in Syria to grab the oil and betrayed the Kurds in the process. Now the USA are mercenary force for Exxon It’s always been questioned why we are in Iraq? Why John Howard joined the illegal invasion of a Sovereign State that doesn’t want us there? Now we are ready to partake in yet another escallated war with Iran who signed a peace treaty before Trump came on the scene. A treaty we are now supporting the total shredding of. Payne is proof we are Puppets lapdogs to American politics for profit and its grab for Middle Eastern oil which when said and done we will buy from the US at their price.
More to the point the LNP ready to see the escalation of violence and another unwinnable war offering up Australian lives as we have done time again since WW2. What we are doing is boosting Trump’s desperate efforts in domestic American politics. (ODT)
Foreign Minister Marise Payne will on Tuesday publicly plead for the Iraqi government to let Australian and international partners remain in the country.
“We urge the Iraqi government to ensure the coalition is able to continue its vital work with Iraq’s security forces in countering the shared threat of Daesh,” she said.
“We understand the resolution passed by Iraq’s parliament is non-binding, absent formal approval by the government in Baghdad.”
Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski also said she remained undecided on how she would vote in the president’s Senate impeachment trial, according to KTUU.
Canada, one of its two closest neighbours and largest trading partner. Britain, with which it enjoyed the heralded special relationship.
And France, whose Marquis de Lafayette was instrumental in the American Revolution of the late 1700s.
Who could have anticipated that an American president would have been the subject of mocking among their leaders?
And worse, that one of those allies would tangle with him publicly under a global spotlight?
That’s what happened this week at the summit of NATO countries in London.
Whether Donald Trump was embarrassed, upset or simply tired from recent travels, he packed up early and went home to Washington — an even more hostile place, given that impeachment proceedings are swirling.
Is the US puppet show over? (ODT)
via Iraqis Rise Up Against 16 Years of “Made in the USA” Corruption | The Smirking Chimp
Four decades of Israeli “occupation reversed and legalised by Trump and his Administration but not in the eyes of the rest of the World (ODT)
via US says Israeli settlements are no longer illegal – BBC News
Character assassination is what Fox News does. The problem for Trump when it comes to the impeachment scandal is that Fox News has too many characters it needs to assassinate.
Lindsey Graham says Trump’s Ukraine policy was incoherent. It wasn’t. He knew what he wanted. But the strategy to defend the president in this impeachment proceeding is certainly incoherent at this point. He will probably survive a trial in the Senate, but none of his defenders are going to come out looking any better than he does. The central fact they can’t accept is that his behavior was indefensible.
via Looks Like GOP Might Run With the “Moron Defense” for Trump | The Smirking Chimp
Trump is exactly who his critics have always said he was: a venal, narcissistic, corrupt, self-dealing wannabe autocrat. He has proven that over and over again, and the Ukraine scandal is just the latest demonstration of a plain fact. It’s impeachable on its own, but it’s also falls at the end of a series of condemnable conduct. His ideological compatriots should start taking the president’s critics seriously, instead of desperately trying to sweep Trump’s mountain of wrongdoing under the rug.
via The Ukraine Scandal Proves Trump Is Exactly Who We Warned You He Was | The Smirking Chimp
Netanyahu did not criticise Trump or his decision to pull US troops out of Syria in his statement about the Turkish operation, but gradually stopped “name dropping” the US president in his public speeches. He even failed to show up at the UN meeting in New York, where he was expected to meet Trump for a one-on-one meeting and photo opportunity.
Trump is unlikely to abandon Israel anytime soon, but by “betraying” the Kurds he clearly created the perception in Tel Aviv that he could. This will cause new turmoil in an already volatile region, and add to the mounting troubles of the Israeli prime minister.
![File: US President Donald Trump gestures as he and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu deliver statements at the White House in Washington, US, March 25, 2019 [Carlos Barria/Reuters]](https://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/imagecache/mbdxxlarge/mritems/Images/2019/10/25/82c3cb4d276e41e09d95e7d19ad7c360_18.jpg "What is behind the Israeli outrage over Turkey's Syria operation?")
via What is behind the Israeli outrage over Turkey’s Syria operation? | USA | Al Jazeera
Another UNPRECEDENTED move by Trump ODT)
Top Democrats reacted with anger to Donald Trump’s decision to go ahead with the Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi raid without giving them advance notice, on grounds that they were not to be trusted with such highly sensitive information.
In a break with precedent, Trump excluded senior Democrats on the so-called Gang of Eight – the group of congressional leaders who by law are to be informed of covert actions ordered by the US president – from all operational intelligence.
Those cut out of the loop included Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, and Adam Schiff, who chairs the House intelligence committee.
via Pelosi slams Trump for cutting Democrats out of loop on Baghdadi raid | World news | The Guardian
The Kurds have a saying that their only friend is the mountains, and in the past few weeks, US President Donald Trump and his deputy, Mike Pence, have seemed determined to prove them right.
Kurdish forces fought alongside Americans to defeat Islamic State at the cost of 11,000 of their young fighting men and women’s lives. Despite this, almost two weeks ago the United States withdrew the 1000 troops who were keeping the peace along the border with the Kurds’ long-time enemy, Turkey.
Ankara responded almost immediately by invading territory the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces have effectively ruled over for several years.
On top of that, as is his habit, Trump insulted them. Their existential battle with Turkey “has nothing to do with us”, the President said, and Kurds were, by the way, “no angels”.
via Turkey-Syrian conflict: If you were American I would have told you this was all your fault
(“The United States and Italy are bound together by a shared cultural and political heritage dating back thousands of years to Ancient Rome.”)
The face of the interpreter of the white house that must translate to mattarella the words of trump while claiming that the United States and Italy share a cultural legacy that dates back to thousands of years ago, to say, since ancient Rome.
(“The United States and Italy are bound together by a shared cultural and political heritage dating back thousands of years to Ancient Rome.”)
the Turkish military doesn’t function without the U.S. weapons industry—and the approval of the U.S. government. Absent all the hardware bearing Made in America stickers sitting in Turkish military bases, we would probably not be fretting about what Turkey’s government was doing to the Syrian Democratic Forces.
placing American military personnel in harm’s way apparently carries less political risk than endangering the profits of munitions manufacturers, or the careers of foreign policy experts.
via Turkey, the Kurds, and Lots and Lots of US Weapons | The Smirking Chimp
